Chinese bao are a staple, and fun, dish at most dim sum meals. Ranging between steamed or baked, and from sweet plum filling to savory spicy pork, and everything in between, they’re a very versatile dish. We slap anything between two slices of bread, and almost all European countries have a meat filled dough dish of some kind, and that doesn’t even begin to bring in pastries. … [Read more...]
Basics of Making Bread
Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods: and good bread with fresh butter the greatest of all feasts – James Beard Starting the day with toast or perfecting a dinner when you bring a hot loaf of bread to the table, there are few things as universal as bread. Focaccia Bread By the same token, there are as many kinds and types of bread as there are cultures … [Read more...]
Sourdough Cheese Bread
A sourdough starter is not required for this bread. If you do not have one, just double the amount of yeast. If you do have one, and are familiar with using it, you have a couple choices. This recipe is a slightly quicker format and uses a small amount of additional instant yeast with your starter. It works great. If you are familiar with sourdough baking, this works just as … [Read more...]
No Knead Yeast Bread
Super easy, few ingredients, this is a great way to begin baking bread. You can do this with zero specialized equipment, other than a Dutch oven or covered casserole pot. The actual baking of bread is a combination of temperature, humidity, and time. A more humid oven will make a heavier crust. So, you can spray the loaves with water when putting them in the oven. You can have … [Read more...]
No Knead Soda Bread
We typically assume bread has yeast, and for some that is the defining characteristic. There are yeast breads that do not have the kneading step, we will cover that in another article. We are working the other side of the street in this look at no-knead breads that use soda for leavening, Corn bread and Irish soda bread battle it out for the most well-known of this style of … [Read more...]
Making Bread in a Stand Mixer
Best Way to Make Bread is in a Stand Mixer Homemade bread is the best, and it’s cheap – about 30 cents a loaf with the big bag of flour I picked up. Even better, with a stand mixer to do most of the work, it’s easy. Your biggest investment (after the stand mixer) is time. I usually figure about 5 hours from zero to eating the first slice. If you’re like me, that time is … [Read more...]